Kalaburgi: Three senior students of a nursing college here were arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged ragging of a first year Dalit girl student from Kerala who is now being treated at a hospital in her state for critical damage to her internal organs. Kalaburugi Superintendent of Police N Shashikumar said that those arrested were identified as Lakshmi, Athera, and Vishnupriya. All of them have been sent to judicial custody, he said. Nineteen-year-old Aswathi was allegedly force-fed toilet cleaner by her seniors at the hostel of Al Qamal College of Nursing in Kalaburigi on May 9, seriously damaging her internal organs.
She is now fighting for life at Kozhikode Medical College hospital, where she was admitted on June 2. Based on her statement, police in Kozhikode had registered an FIR on June 22 against five of her seniors. National Human Rights Commission took notice of media reports of the incident and asked the state government and Kozhikode district authorities to file a report on it and action taken. It issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Karnataka, as well as the District Collector and Superintendent of Police of Kozhikode, calling for reports on action taken in the matter within four weeks.
It observed that ragging has been banned in educational institutions and guidelines on recommendations of the Raghavan Committee to check ragging have been issued in this regard. NHRC said the Apex Court has also referred to ragging as an ugly mark, which needs to be eliminated from educational institutions. The college authorities were legally bound and responsible for ensuring protection of students from the threat of ragging, the Commission stated. A Karnataka police team probing the incident is now in Kozhikode and will visit her tomorrow to record her statement. Kerala Women's Commission also wrote to its counterpart in Karnataka, urging it to happen in the matter.
